The field of the invention relates generally to pelletized plastic compounds, and more particularly to pelletized plastic compounds and method of manufacture that does not include multiple drying steps.
Some known pelletizing devices used to pelletize plastic compounds utilize water to cool the formed pellets and convey the pellets to a spin-dryer/separator. One of the problems with these devices, and certain plastics, is that the die used to make the pellets may cause surface roughness on the surface of the pellets. This roughness tends to hold water on the surface, and the pellets remain wet after exiting the separator/spin-dryer. To overcome this problem an additional drying step to remove the water from the surface of the pellets can be used. However, drying steps are expensive and lengthen the manufacturing time.
Another method of overcoming the wet pellet surface is to use water at an increased temperature so that the heat of the pellets will evaporate the water when the water is separated from the conveying water. However, when manufacturing pellets that have a low flex modulus, for example about 20,000 pounds per square inch (psi) or less, water at a temperature that is high enough to drive the water from the surface of the pellets will melt the low modulus plastic material. The melted plastic pellets can clog the separator/spin-dryer causing manufacturing stoppage to clean the spin-dryer/separator.